Author: Eric W. Koleda

Publisher: TreatNOW.org

Published: 2021-10-01

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13:

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), the “invisible wounds” and the “signature injuries” to US service members, number over eight hundred thousand. The costs of those injuries over time have not been adequately tallied. The DoD, VA and medicine in general use an inadequate protocol that treats symptoms and fails to treat underlying brain wounds. It is fair to say that costs continue to escalate partly as a result of politics brought about by medicine’s unwillingness to accept worldwide science and evidence of new, non-standard treatments that are healing brain wounds. Annually, millions of people in the US sustain TBIs and Concussions. Over a quarter of million are hospitalized and survive. According to CDC estimates, 1.6 to 3.8 million sports and recreation related concussions occur each year in the U.S. Over 80,000 experience the onset of long-term disability. Acquired brain trauma is the second most prevalent disability in the U.S., now estimated at 13.5 million Americans. A war lasting twenty years has coincided with interrelated epidemics of suicide, opioid overdoses, and mental health deterioration in the military services. $118.1 billion per year is the current annual economic impact on our country by TBI veterans who live with untreated, undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed brain wounds. The costs are spread across a complex of known impacts. It includes Veteran homelessness, loss of state and federal income taxes, sales taxes, vehicle taxes, drug and opioid induced costs, non-taxable VA and Social Security disability payments, state incarceration and hospitalization costs, pharmaceuticals, and caregiver costs. The costs of the moral, mental, social and behavioral damage are hard to quantify. The financial modeling approach used in this study reflects the estimated economic impact to each state and our country’s annual tax revenues and expenses. A similar analysis is done to assess the costs of treating and healing brain wounds with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and other proven alternative, functional medicine interventions. This contrasts with the current standard of care: merely treating symptoms and palliating pain and suffering with drugs. Treating and healing brain wounds, now possible, can reverse the suicide epidemic among service members and brake accelerating costs; improve Quality of Life for the wounded and their families; and affect military readiness and national security. The cost savings are profound: Treating the estimated 877,000+ brain-wounded post-9/11 Veterans with Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBOT) and other proven alternative therapies will cost an estimated $19.7 Billion. That is less than ½ of one percent of the $4.7 Trillion 40-year lifetime costs attributable to NOT treating those brain wounds. Recommendations include: Immediate use of proven alternative therapies such as HBOT to arrest the suicide epidemic and heal wounded brains; implementation of a comprehensive plan to promote a collaborative, prospective TBI treatment agenda, with the sense of urgency that epidemics demand; URGENT DoD and VA efforts to develop coordinate, and implement a measurement-based TBI management system that documents patients’ progress over the course of treatment and long-term follow-up; highest priority assigned to ensure DoD and VA medical personnel are fulfilling their medical ethical obligations of “Informed Consent” about current alternative treatments, science and the need for immediate identification and treatment of a brain wounded service members; independent audits of all mental health statistics and numbers coming out of DoD and the VA, along with budget numbers masking total costs for TBI Veterans; and application of the principles of Functional Medicine in assessing and treating all combat veterans.